Will retailers give consumers the one thing they want most for the holidays?

E-commerce sales are expected to skyrocket this holiday season, and what customers want most is free shipping on those purchases. Even if it’s not fast.

This year, some big names will deliver.

Target Corp.
TGT, -0.45%
will offer free shipping and returns on all purchases beginning Sunday and extending through Dec. 25. Free standard shipping, which takes three to five days, is now available on purchases of $25 or more.

Best Buy Co. Inc.
BBY, -0.19%
is offering free shipping through Jan. 2 on items marked for standard shipping, which takes between three and seven days. Free shipping is normally available on minimum orders of $35.

Others are holding firm to existing policies.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
WMT, +1.50%
isn’t changing its year-round policy of offering free shipping on orders of $50 or more. The “vast majority” of orders qualify for free shipping, and the company’s pick-up service, which is also free of charge, is popular, Fernando Madeira, chief executive of Walmart.com, said on a call with reporters on Thursday.

And Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN, -0.89%
said it has “tens of millions of items” available for free shipping year-round, but hasn’t announced a special program for the holidays. Members of Amazon Prime, which costs $99 a year, receive free two-day shipping on over 20 million items.

Free shipping can bring a retailer more business. Some 72% of the 4,009 respondents to Deloitte’s 30th annual holiday survey said they would take advantage of free shipping. Even more — 87% — said free shipping is more important to them than fast shipping that they must pay for. Fast, according to 92% of them, is delivery within two days. Nearly two-thirds would still count four days as quick delivery.

In a separate survey from PwC, 83% of the 2,000-plus consumers polled said an offer of free shipping would make them “extremely likely to make a purchase.”

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